Philanthropist
George Kozmetsky makes $6 million gift to Stanford

University
Provost John Etchemendy on Tuesday will announce a $6
million gift by George and Ronya Kozmetsky to
establish the Kozmetsky Global Collaboratory at
Stanford.

The
announcement will be made at 11 a.m. in Wallenberg
Hall, Building 160. The event is open to the media.

The
donation will establish a program linking researchers
at Stanford and the University of Texas to conduct
research on how technology can be used to enhance
global prosperity. Stanford's Department of
Communication and the university's Media X program
will collaborate with the University of Texas'
Institute for Innovation, Creativity and Capital
(IC2) to develop ways to foster successful business
ventures rapidly in developing countries.

"We
are very pleased that the Kozmetsky family has chosen
to support Stanford researchers, particularly those
working at our new Media X program," Etchemendy
said. "The Kozmetsky family has set an ambitious
goal for us and for our collaborators at the
University of Texas. They want us to show how
technology can help spread prosperity globally."

George
Kozmetsky, dean of the business school at the
University of Texas from 1966 to 1982, founded IC2 a
quarter-century ago to support sustainable economic
growth and the development of civil society
worldwide. In 1960, Kozmetsky co-founded the
California defense electronics firm Teledyne Inc.,
and he helped lay the groundwork for Austin's
high-tech boom in the 1990s. Kozmetsky will be
founding chairman of the new venture. Communication
Professor Clifford Nass and Syed Shariq, a newly
appointed senior research scholar in the School of
Humanities and Sciences, will jointly direct the
project on campus.

"We
are very pleased to be partners in the Kozmetsky
Collaboratory," said Sharon Long, dean of the
School of Humanities and Sciences. "There is
much to be understood about how technology works for
diverse groups of people in different circumstances.
How is it best used? What are the barriers in terms
of individual and social perceptions and
habits?"

Long
said that research on the nature of communications
combined with the study of technology and its
interfaces will help people understand how technology
use is affected by knowledge, beliefs and
institutions. "The Kozmetsky partnership will
create the opportunity for breakthroughs in our
understanding of interactive technology, which may be
important for education, for economic innovation and
for effective social institutions," she said.

The gift
will support a new research center and facility for
Media X, and an interdisciplinary research network on
campus to support the training of entrepreneurs and
the development of learning communities. The gift
will also support research through the Department of
Communication to promote the development of
interactive technology for education.